| QuickBooks - QuickBooks is a
professional software that can help you track of expenses, know which
companies owe you money, track income, and generate all kinds of
different reports. It is very user friendly. For more
information on QuickBooks visit their QuickBooks
website.
|
| Purchase at your local office supply
store a large desktop calendar with large blocks for each day.
That way you can write the name of each shop you have scheduled on the
appropriate day. It is very easy to see, at a glance, what days
you have available.
|
| Use Microsoft Outlook's calendar
section to keep all of your shops on your computer. This is a
great tool because you can keep you To Do list here and set up reminders
for when shops are due.
|
| Palm Pilot - I love using my Palm Pilot
for keeping track of my life! I use the desktop software to type
everything in and then I sync it to my Palm. I find it hard to
type fast enough into the Palm directly but if I use the desktop on my
PC then I can use my keyboard.
|
| Use index cards and monthly dividers to
keep track of what shops you have scheduled in a particular month.
On the index card you can write the shop, the mystery shopping company
you are shopping for, the address of the business, the telephone number,
etc.
|
| This idea is from a post I read on a
message board. Use 2 binders - one for TO DO jobs and one for
COMPLETED jobs.
For the TO DO binder: Use numerical dividers each one
representing a date. When you have a shop scheduled, put the
paperwork and pertinent information behind the numerical divider
corresponding to the date.
For the COMPLETED jobs binder: Use A-Z dividers. When a
job is completed file the important paperwork behind the alphabetical
divider according to the companies name. Then when you get paid
for the job simply staple the check stub to the receipt.
|
| Use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track
of all of the shops you have scheduled. I have included in the
resource section the form that I designed and have used in the past.
|
| Use a hanging file system to keep track
of completed shops. I have a file cabinet with one drawer used
exclusively for mystery shopping paperwork. I have a hanging file
for each company that I actively work for. Once I have completed a
shop I file the paperwork in the file folder for that particular
company.
|
| Many people will use a Day timer to
keep track of shops. The problem that I found with using a Day
timer is I didn't have enough room in the small boxes to write more than
one shop. On a Saturday, for example, I have had as many as 10
shops to complete on one day.
|
